I don’t want to learn to do every job

Jerry Useem

The Atlantic

“Should anyone take the time to master anything at all?” asked Jerry Useem. Just glance at a typical corporate recruiting site; take SkyWest Airlines. “You’ll see that the company is looking for ‘cross-utilized agents’ capable of ticketing, marshaling and servicing aircraft, and handling luggage.” All over, companies today are looking for “someone who can be all, do all, and pivot on a dime to solve any problem,” as one trade organization leader told me. This phenomenon is “sped by automation,” which is quickly swallowing up routine tasks and leaving human workers to handle the unexpected. No, we’re not yet entering a world where dermatologists are performing spinal surgery. But the proliferation of generalists and so-called lifelong learners may be “the future we need to see.” Want a promotion? Perhaps you should learn quantum computing. And yet: Even as I reported this story, I was given career suggestions. “You need to be a video guy, an audio guy!” one talent adviser told me. I found the prospect of starting over exhausting. “Are we equipped to continually return to apprentice mode? Will this burn us out? And will the collective work that results be as good as what came before?”